TODAY's Craig Melvin got into a heated exchange with the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio while discussing President Trump's White House press ban.
After speaking about the war in Iran, AI, and rising gas prices across America, the morning show anchor questioned Marco on Tuesday, September 22 about the decision to ban multiple news outlets, including CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
The ban of the historic media organizations went into effect on Friday, September 18 when Trump announced the news on Truth Social.
When asked about the ban, Marco responded: "Maybe you're not gonna like to hear this. But I watch a lot of American news coverage and it sounds in some cases, for example, like they're rooting for Iran. It sounds like they highlight anything Iran says and all their public statements as true and they downplay everything American officials say is wrong. I don't think that is what's behind this, but I think there's a timeline here…"
© NBCCraig jumped in, cutting off the Secretary of State, asking: "With all due respect, should media outlets be banned because the president doesn't like their coverage?"
The conversation became heated after Marco replied: "Well, they're not banned," and Craig doubled down, saying: "They are banned! They're banned from the White House."
Watch the tense exchange in the video above…
The press's response to the White House ban
After CNN, MS Now, and Politico were banned from the White House, they issued a joint statement that they would file a lawsuit to "protect our First Amendment rights." The networks that make up the White House TV pool, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, also said they would cease operations in the wake of the ban on their colleagues.
